fragments of ephemeral melodies
by theywillliveon
Summary: a collection based around various death eaters / I — barty crouch jr, II — tom riddle jr
1. Chapter 1

**I - the words you say (they crumble around me)**

 **Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of JKR.

 **Written For:** _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) _— prompts at the bottom!

 **Word Count:** 884

* * *

 _And in my best behaviour_

 _I am really just like him_

 _Look beneath the floorboards_

 _For the secrets I have hid_

* * *

You are born into a family of cowards.

Or perhaps it is simply that there is a lack of love, a lack of familial _trust_.

It does not matter, either way.

* * *

Your father despises you. From the minute you are born, he brushes you off with casual dismissal, putting work first and foremost.

You would truly believe your father to be incapable of love if not for the affection he occasionally gifts to your mother.

* * *

It is a bitter feeling, twisting away at your insides.

You want him to _see_ you.

You just want some sort of recognition, appreciation, _anything_.

You make many, many, many attempts to gain your father's love.

Your efforts are futile.

You begin to lose hope.

 _(But then you wonder, which one of you is the true failure?)_

* * *

You feel yourself turn.

It is a gradual process, but a sure one, and soon you have powers that you never knew were capable of existing.

You watch others suffer at your hand, and you experience utmost delight for the first time in your entire life.

You befriend Regulus Black, a kind boy with beautiful, dark blue eyes who you willingly drag into a crowd he will most likely never find his way out of.

Perhaps it could have been something more, if only you weren't too busy torturing Muggles for fun.

Is there any regret at all?

You are not sure.

And still, your father pays no attention to you.

* * *

He wears a mask, a face of courage and strength and pride, the true qualities of a leader — or so they say.

You loathe it, because you know that, behind it all, your father is just the same as everyone else.

He is no better than you.

The man they see, the man they love, the man they admire, the man they want to _be_ — it is all a lie.

You know it.

But perhaps you are the only one.

* * *

You take bigger risks.

You slip up.

You are caught, you are put on trial, you are sent to Azkaban _by your father_ , who barely even glances in your direction.

But it does not matter, because you have become hollow inside, and nothing will bring you back.

Where there used to be love, where there used to be desperation, where there used to be a craving for attention, there is absolutely nothing.

In a last-ditch effort, you lunge at him — and he snaps. You see your mother faint.

The mask is off, you realise.

He is all but snarling, and you watch as everything he has done over the years, the perfect world he has so carefully built, comes tumbling down.

Finally, the world will see him for what he truly is.

And when you look back at him for the last time, the only thing you feel is hatred. And a final, burning desire to prove to him that you _are_ worth something.

The day he realises it will be his last.

You swear it to yourself.

 _You will kill him._

* * *

Your mother sacrifices herself for you.

Internally, you scoff at your father — has he really weakened so much so that he would willingly bring his hated _son_ , the person who destroyed what he loved most, back into his life?

You realise that he simply no longer cares. That without the mask, he truly believes he is nothing, so why strive to be anything at all?

Then you think that perhaps it is a ploy to get rid of both of you, sending you and your mother to your deaths.

You were practically dead anyway.

But in the outside world, you know that you can survive.

That's what you do.

You breathe in, and you carry on living, no matter what.

It is possibly the only thing of value your father has ever taught you.

He has made a huge mistake.

* * *

Gradually, your strength returns to you.

You feel yourself fighting the enchantment, and periods of clarity enter your mind.

You begin to plot your escape.

But even when you become his puppet, even when you are lost from your body, you do not forget the vow you made to yourself.

 _You will kill him._

* * *

You look your father directly in the eyes just before he dies, and, knowing the potions' effects will wear off any second now, you force his face towards you, wanting him to know who you are, wanting him to know that you have _won_.

The recognition that lights up in his eyes is unmistakable, and you grin maniacally, triumph blazing across your face.

A single tear slips out before the light dims completely, and he slumps back against you, onto the ground.

He is dead.

* * *

When the Dementor approaches you, you do not cry.

You do not laugh, either, although a kind of gurgle reaches up through your throat, and you gag, omitting a kind of cackle that you can tell immensely frightens the other occupants in the room.

You stare Minerva McGonagall in the eye, and smile voraciously.

It does not matter that you are about to die.

There is only jubilance within you.

You have succeeded in your mission — you have served your master, and well.

You are immensely proud of yourself.

But it has always been more than that.

You have proved your worth.

 _It does not matter that you are about to die._

Because in the end, you are still victorious.

* * *

 _Prompts:_

365 Prompts: 364. (word) Victorious

Assignment #3: Herbology: Dangerous Plants — task 1 (write about someone who wears a disguise)

Insane House: 979. (emotion) proud

Resolutions: 5. Write 100 stories in 2018 (#2), 8. Write a story in a style you've not used before, 62. Write a collection based around Death Eaters (#1)

Scavenger Hunt: 13. write a fic featuring polyjuice potion

Serpent Challenge: 39. Lancehead (word) hollow

Writing Club:

\- Character Appreciation: (relationship) Father

\- Disney Challenge: Aladdin - write about a survivor

\- Showtime: 10. A Sentimental Man (relationship) Father/Child

(Lyrics — John Wayne Gacy Jr, by Sufjan Stevens)


	2. Chapter 2

**II — a land of gold**

 **Disclaimer:** Nothing recognisable belongs to me.

 **Written For:** _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)_ — prompts at the bottom!

 **Word Count:** 434

* * *

 _I don't care if it hurts_

 _I want to have control_

* * *

It starts with a spark —

A single flash of light, bright enough to fill the deepest corners of the cold, cold room.

And then it is gone.

But his eyes are filled with a hunger for _more_.

/

From then on, he knows he's different.

 _Different_.

He can control things with his mind; he can control _people_.

He can make them do what he wants them to do.

He has _power_.

It's one of the only times the matrons at the orphanage remember him smiling — the day that the damp building is filled with an ethereal glow, one that lasts only a few seconds.

But it's enough to cause a mild stir, and questions to be asked. And the sharper of the women know it's no coincidence that the boy comes downstairs to breakfast that day with the broadest smile they have ever seen plastered across his pale face.

It sends a tremor of fear into the hearts of the building's inhabitants — but they have no business interfering with unexplained events, so they simply let it be.

/

When the auburn-haired man arrives at the orphanage, they very willingly hand the boy over, glad to be rid of the pale-faced, dark-eyed soul who has tormented so many of them for so long.

/

He kills a rabbit, and he laughs.

There is no remorse.

 _He is merciless._

/

With the discovery of Horcruxes comes a whole new level of power, and his eyes gleam red with uncontrollable desire.

He kills his uncle, his father, his grandfather, his grandmother — a flicker of red within his impossibly brown eyes greets each of the four as they are sent, tumbling, to their deaths.

Then there are the nameless — so many of them, so many, so much _power_ , and it fills him with a burning sensation that spreads throughout his body.

 _Happiness_.

Or, at least, that's what he thinks it is.

/

He _will be_ invincible.

He will be.

 _(He already is.)_

/

A prophecy is made.

And he has to kill the boy.

 _He has to._

It is his final conquest, the final step in his search for complete domination.

/

One, final flash of green light erupts from the end of his wand, and then —

/

He is shattering —

Into tiny, tiny pieces —

Fragments of himself, contorting, exploding, and _yet_ —

He is still living.

But he is not alive.

He breathes.

A whisper greets him in return, a shadow, and he realises, in horror, that he has _become_ the shadow.

He is nothing.

But the hunger for power _remains_ embedded within him.

 _He is invincible._

* * *

 _Prompts:_

365 Prompts: 249. (Restriction) no names

Insane House - 46. (Character) Tom Riddle

Resolutions - 49. Write a fic exploring one character only (no pairings), 62. Write a collection based around Death Eaters (#2)

Assignment #6 — Lineage Studies, Task #2 (write about someone feeling/being powerful)

Piñata Challenge: Hard

Writing Club:

\- Showtime: 14. Summer Sequence – write a fic involving time skips

\- Ami's Audio Admirations: 24. Dear Diary — (character) Tom Riddle


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